Chaos over special flights continues
Passengers who got stuck following the sudden restrictions slapped on international flights are struggling to get their return tickets for their workplaces in five countries.
Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, the director at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, meanwhile, said none of the twelve special flights scheduled on Sunday was cancelled.
Four out of 12 special flights left Dhaka airport till 3:00pm on the day carrying around 1,000 expatriate workers to their workplaces in Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE.
The government on April 15 allowed the carriers to operate flights on five destinations — Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Singapore.
Meanwhile, several hundred migrant workers gathered in front of Biman’s Motijheel office in the capital and Saudi Arabian Airlines’ office at Hotel Sonargaon for the second consecutive day to get their return tickets reissued for going back to their workplaces in different countries.
Witnesses said that the Biman’s office at Motijheel saw a chaotic situation as several hundred expatriate workers scrambled for tickets.
A migrant worker sustained serious injuries in his chest and face as he walked into a glass door at the entrance of the office building. He was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Staging a demonstration in front of the Biman office, many passengers said they had to face untold sufferings and had to spend a huge amount of money to reach Dhaka from different districts amid the countrywide strict restrictions.
Aminuddin, another Saudi-bound migrant worker, said he was scheduled to return to his workplace on April 16 but he could not fly due to the suspension on international flights from Bangladesh, and he worried as his visa would expire on April 21.
The government on April 14 suspended the operation of all international passenger flights to and from Bangladesh for a week to contain the spread of Covid-19.
On Saturday at the airport in Dhaka, expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said that if any worker faced any problem regarding visa, the embassy concerned would help to sort it out.
News Courtesy:
https://www.newagebd.net/article/135745/chaos-over-special-flights-continues
